Originally Posted By ecdc <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/us/politics/28teaparty.html" target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03...rty.html</a> This really is astounding. I mean, this is some seriously powerful stupid, my friends. A lot of these people are on Medicare, take unemployment because they're out of work, are on social security, etc. Some of them say they don't trust government because it didn't regulate businesses enough in the 1980s. Holy crap! One line really sums up what these people are about: >>[Ms. Reimer] liked that the Tea Party was patriotic, too. “They said the Pledge of Allegiance and sang the national anthem,” she said.<< Never let the facts or reality get in the way of good old fashioned emotion. Stupidity truly knows no bounds.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt ecdc please check out my post about Palin and the Tea Party here in WE. You might find it interesting.
Originally Posted By Labuda Wow, yeah, I'm just about speechless after having read that entire article.
Originally Posted By pecos bill Classic herd mentality. They remind me of the droves of people who were following Forrest Gump when he was running across America. Or better yet, the little green aliens in Toy Story, OOOH!
Originally Posted By Wendy Pleakley The amount of stupidity out there is truly mind-boggling. To call these people idiots is a major understatement.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox "Take your government hands off my Medicare!!" Classically dipped in stupid.
Originally Posted By mele "“If you don’t trust the mindset or the value system of the people running the system, you can’t even look at the facts anymore,” Mr. Grimes said." Truthiness.
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 Oh brother. I do know a lot of these people would dump the tea party in a second if they found a good job. I just don't see these kind of people as being all that dedicated when something new and shiny comes by to distract them.
Originally Posted By alexbook >>Oh brother. I do know a lot of these people would dump the tea party in a second if they found a good job.<< I'm no fan of the Tea Party, but I don't think this is a fair criticism, in that you could say the same thing about many revolutionary movements throughout history. Well-fed people don't revolt; hungry ones do.
Originally Posted By alexbook >>Oh brother. I do know a lot of these people would dump the tea party in a second if they found a good job.<< I'm no fan of the Tea Party, but I don't think this is a fair criticism, in that you could say the same thing about many revolutionary movements throughout history. Well-fed people don't revolt; hungry ones do.
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Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 "I'm no fan of the Tea Party, but I don't think this is a fair criticism, in that you could say the same thing about many revolutionary movements throughout history. Well-fed people don't revolt; hungry ones do." The problem is that past revolutionary movements had actual issues to fight for. The Tea Party has no true focus. You can't just fight because you're angry about something. That's why I characterized them that way. Many of them are focusing anger at being out of work or facing hard times on somebody else. They need somebody to blame (and there are plenty of people/groups that are responsible). The thing is, that I think the Tea Party is mostly misguided on what they are focusing to fight about.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan They're just angry at "government" in general. If you look at the signs at these rallies, and listen to the rhetoric, it really is all over the map. To paraphrase "The Wild One"... Q: "What are you rebelling against, Teabaggers?" A: "What do you got?"
Originally Posted By ecdc >>The problem is that past revolutionary movements had actual issues to fight for. The Tea Party has no true focus.<< Exactly right. The Tea partiers are supposedly unified under the banner of lower government taxes, naming themselves after a famous event in American history to protest new taxes. Problem is, there aren't higher taxes under Obama, there's lower taxes. Not that they'd know that - they never worried too much about reality. It's state and local governments that are pushing for new taxes because they're going bankrupt. So ironically, the very things these people supposedly want, more local involvement and control, are the problem, not the federal government. But who are they protesting? Obama. It says a lot about their lack of critical thinking skills and, in some cases, their racism.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***It says a lot about their lack of critical thinking skills and, in some cases, their racism.*** In most cases. JMHO.
Originally Posted By hopemax > Exactly right. The Tea partiers are supposedly unified under the banner of lower government taxes, naming themselves after a famous event in American history to protest new taxes. Problem is, there aren't higher taxes under Obama, there's lower taxes. Not that they'd know that - they never worried too much about reality. < I was reading a Forbes article, last week, by one of Reagan's economists and friend of Frum, Bruce Bartlett. He was surprised by how little the Tea Partiers knew about taxes. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/18/tea-party-ignorant-taxes-opinions-columnists-bruce-bartlett.html" target="_blank">http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/...ett.html</a> There probably is some caution regarding, "small sample size." But this combined with the post on fivethirtyeight.com I had previously mentioned regarding what people think the government spends in certain areas, I think reveals a logical trend. And I'm sure it doesn't apply to simply Tea Partiers. Considering how little many Americans know about their own personal balance sheet, why would they be literate in the Federal Government's, or even their state or city.
